The Fake Geek Girl

[Wildeybeast]

It was a Big Bang Theory reference...

You made a BB reference about a person who doesn't watch BB?

[Uncle Nutsy]

You're judging her entirely on her apperance. You can't see the problem with that, especially considering your reaction to that acquaintance of yours?

You might not hear this from any guy you talk to on a daily basis but.. of course we judge on appearance. It's the first thing we do, and it's not a bad thing to do. To say otherwise would be self-denial. And if any other guy tells you he doesn't, he's lying to your face. It's just in our nature.

I'm not sure what your criteria for girls is so that they meet your standards of looking geeky enough (feel free to enlighten me on how geeks girls should dress, act and.pose for photos [though given your comment about advertising perhaps we're not allowed to be photographed]) but if you'd only seen a pic of me I doubt I'd pass your test.

there's no standard on how geeky one should look. It's in the character of a person. And any true geek would not go around advertising that they are geek. Even today it's still a bit of a stigma. The true geek doesn't need to say or show they are geek. You can just tell.

Take that photo for example. The fact that the glasses don't have lenses in them, the hair that looks dyed, the tone of skin, and the fact she has the word 'nerd' written on her hand. It just seems 'off' on a lot of levels. It's sort of how you can tell if someone's not all there, is spinney, is a bit daft, is hiding something, etc.

I won't deny I was being pretty sarcastic I don't think I've been rude, angry or at anyone's throat. I was questioning the logical disconnect between judging one person on appearance but decrying judging of another because of equally superficial reasons.
The meme is not just a stupid picture, but spun off from very real problems within the geek/nerd community that are very often ignored because of some sort of fear of offending each other (google geek social fallacies), when they do need to be assessed openly and honestly - else we get commentary like the original facebook post that started it all in the first place.

Your sarcasm wasn't unnoticed. In fact I kind of enjoyed it, and I enjoy this discussion. I like it when a person has the constitution to trade a few friendly jibes with me. I'm a big boy, and I gots ams thick skins.

[Gotthammer]

You might not hear this from any guy you talk to on a daily basis but.. of course we judge on appearance. It's the first thing we do, and it's not a bad thing to do. To say otherwise would be self-denial. And if any other guy tells you he doesn't, he's lying to your face. It's just in our nature.

Missing my point slightly I think - I meant specifically juding her geekyness on looks, when you decried a person for judging you on the same matter over something equally trivial.

there's no standard on how geeky one should look. It's in the character of a person. And any true geek would not go around advertising that they are geek. Even today it's still a bit of a stigma. The true geek doesn't need to say or show they are geek. You can just tell.

Take that photo for example. The fact that the glasses don't have lenses in them, the hair that looks dyed, the tone of skin, and the fact she has the word 'nerd' written on her hand. It just seems 'off' on a lot of levels. It's sort of how you can tell if someone's not all there, is spinney, is a bit daft, is hiding something, etc.

You say there's not a standard of appearance, then say geeks don't show they're geeks, which is saying there's a standard. Also, if that's the case you'd better tell Thinkgeek, TopatoCo, Level Up Studios and others to shut down. And let Big Red know not to bother with any BoLS merch either

It really boggles the mind that you're saying she seems off because of her skin tone. I really hope you don't mean it that way, but there are some unfortunate implications in that one (else see Dark Links wonderful comic above with its comment about BMIs and clear skin). But even still, most of the people I've known with dyed hair have been incredibly geeky, and I don't see how being daft or out of it prevents someone being a geek either.

The whole problem is that segments of the geek community exclude people, quite often female people, from events and groups and make their life hard simply due to the perception of not being geeky enough, not looking "right" and so on (and, yes, this happens in the larger world). Issue 1 is that there isn't one way of being geeky, and no way to really test it (see my earlier hyperbole about this). Even saying you're a Batman geek could mean you've only seen the movies but know every line, all teh cut scenes and every detail of unreleased background info that went into them. Or it could mean you've seen every episode of BTAS a dozen times and all the comics related to the show, or you followed the main comics until the recent DC reboot, or just started with the new timeline, or just love the character and pick a bit here and a bit there.

Issue 2 is that geek culture often claims to be super accepting and tollerant, seen as a reaction against the bullying geeks and nerd traditionally suffer in childhood. But scratch the surface and it just the same, even worse, in many geek groups. One need only see the backlash against a recent Miss America contestant who claimed to be a "history geek" - she was of course torn to shreds for being too pretty to be a geek, a poser, trying to cash in on geeks being "in" etc etc.

Or:





Oh, and [URL="http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/246041-idiot-nerd-girl"]her glasses do have lenses in them[/URL] so...


Anyways, DC comics, despite being one of the worst offenders in terms of driving women away (google Batgirl at the 2011 SDCC DC panel - she questioned why there were so few girls in the DC lineup and got booed by the audience and heckled by the writers), [URL="http://www.shopdcentertainment.com/product/superman+fake+nerd+adult+tshirt+smtvtfakea.do?sort by=ourPicks&from=Search"]seems to be catching on at least[/URL]:

Your sarcasm wasn't unnoticed. In fact I kind of enjoyed it, and I enjoy this discussion. I like it when a person has the constitution to trade a few friendly jibes with me. I'm a big boy, and I gots ams thick skins.

No probs - I mean you're still totally wrong but whatevs

[eldargal]

I really don't think you can say with any certainty that her hair looks dyed from this and I really don't see any issue with her skin.

There is no such thing as a true or proper geek/nerd. There are no rules of behaviour. You cannot tell someones level of geekiness from their appearance. You have no right to question anyone's geek cred. This whole thing is based primarily on snobbery and misogyny.

[DarkLink]

I knew a guy who looked more like a biker dude than anything else, who served in both the Army and the Marine Corps, who cussed and all that, who also happened to play 40k and was generally a nerd.

Handwaving judgement based on looks with an excuse as weak as "well, everyone does it" is a poor excuse.

[MaltonNecromancer]

This whole thing is based primarily on snobbery and misogyny.

This +1.

Handwaving judgement based on looks with an excuse as weak as "well, everyone does it" is a poor excuse.

This +1. I will freely admit to judging other people on their appearances, but I'll keep it to myself, and I won't act on those prejudices, because I recognise that they are prejudices, and therefore are completely unreliable for forming a reasonable, civilised opinion.

Any time I hear the whole "everyone does it" argumentum ad populum, I remind you that many people think 40K isn't an appropriate hobby for a grown man. Doesn't mean I'm going to listen to them. Everyone may do it, but acting upon thoughts and emotions remains a choice.

I really don't think you can say with any certainty that her hair looks dyed

I went grey at 15, so I've always dyed my hair. Does that mean I'm not a geek? Because I've got a house full of plastic crap that says otherwise. Seriously, is dyeing your hair / having pride in your appearance / looking attractive for your partner a bad thing now?

As a final note, there's an excellent article about how the whole thing is basically just about men hating women and being unable to admit it:

[url]http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-most-ridiculous-things-about-calling-out-fake-fangirls/[/url]

[eldargal]

That Cracked article really is good.

"Whore" is used throughout comics and gaming fandom, but even to the most sexist mind it's a backfiring insult. Because the guy is admitting that she has something valuable while he can't even give his away. And if women are whores for dressing up as female comics characters, what would that make the people who created those costumes and sent them out to make money?

Read more: [url]http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-most-ridiculous-things-about-calling-out-fake-fangirls_p2/#ixzz2EcshNT1E[/url]

[Psychosplodge]

Fighting against fake geeks is like fighting against unicorns: You’re an arsehole, and even if they were real, your stated goal is trying to kill something wonderful.

Best quote ever?

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Ahhhhh. Nerds.

If I heard nerds making those kinds of comments to girls (or anyone else) then I would probably destroy them. One by one.

[Wolfshade]

I realise that I do not understand fashion. What is geek chic? I hate my glasses and if I had a spare couple of grand I would get laser eyes in an heart beat, then people are weaing empty frames or plain glass for the way they look? The look like my grandfather who has been wearing thick rimmed black glasses since the 50s.

But on the issue of fake people or wannabies they occur all over, it's like the one rock club I go to in Birmingham, the first couple of weeks of university term it has groups of girls all dressed up like Avril Lavigne (or some other "rock chick") they try so hard to dress right and fit in that they don't, or at least visually. It is a very friendly club. People sometimes need to find something to associate with, traditionally the geek/nerds have been the anti this as people are who they are without trying to pretend and now they are being emulated.

Fashion it's all crazy!